Salve Box

I pretty much stink at getting projects posted. So I decided to dig this one out and take a picture.

This is a salve box that I made for my wife as a gift for this holiday. The idea is she will be able to keep the salve she makes in a box small enough to fit in a pocket so she can prevent her finger tips from splitting in the intense cold.

Took a little under 45 minutes to knock this out. No power tools. The lid is a sliding dovetail cut by chisel (for the female portion) and block plane (the lid.). Not attempt was made to make this prefect, but the lid is snug and the proportions are just right.

I bashed out the mortise first in a larger blank, and I pared the sidewalls for better finger clearance. I then used a chisel to make a wider should for the lid to sit. I made it all level using my wheel style marking gauge as mini router plane. I then pared the dovetail part of the joint with a chisel (used the gauge again to clean out crumbs). After that I cut the box away from the larger block (trust me on using the larger block…I could have done the project in under 20 minutes…).

The lid was simply a matter of planing a piece a bit too thick. Way too long and beveling the sides to the right angles. I think I did this by eye. Cut those off and then use a knife to do general shaping. Oil/wax finish (reject salve batches wind up in my shop).